Hexagram 63
Guarding the Gains
jìjì
Reading it as a decision
Water sits above fire here, the classic image of something cooked through to completion — every element in its place, matched, finished. The classical judgment reads success, but only small matters stay favorable from here, and good fortune at the start gives way to disorder by the end. As a situation, this tends to show up right after a plan has worked, a deal has closed, or a project has landed — the moment right after completion, when the pull toward relaxing is strongest.
The classical line texts here lean sharply cautionary, precisely because completion tends to invite the carelessness that undoes it — staying exactly where things are, assuming the work is finished, is usually the position to move away from. The finish line isn't a place to stand still; it's the start of a maintenance phase.
The classical text
Judgment (卦辭)
既濟，亨，小利貞，初吉終亂。
The crossing is already complete and success follows, though what begins well here tends to end in disorder.
The six lines (爻辭)
初九：曳其輪，濡其尾，無咎。
Pulling the cart wheels back, the fox's tail gets wet in the crossing — no blame.
六二：婦喪其茀，勿逐，七日得。
A woman loses her carriage veil; don't chase after it — within seven days it is recovered.
九三：高宗伐鬼方，三年克之，小人勿用。
King Gaozong campaigns against the Guifang tribe and conquers them after three years — but keeps petty men out of it.
六四：儒有衣袽，終日戒。
Keeping rags ready at hand for any leak, staying on guard the whole day through.
九五：東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭，實受其福。
The eastern neighbor's lavish ox sacrifice is outdone by the western neighbor's modest offering, which truly earns the blessing.
上六：濡其首，厲。
The water rises to soak the head — danger.
This is a general reference, not a live reading — it doesn't know your situation. iYarrow casts a fresh hexagram for the actual question you're weighing.
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